Alastor
Alastor is an electrical demon from Movieland's Underworld in the Viewtiful Joe series. He appears as a recurring boss, and sometimes as a playable character. He is also known as Blade Master Alastor, The Midnight Thunderboy, Stylish Alastor, and occasionally by the nickname Al. Though he is originally allied with Jadow, Alastor doesn't give much thought about his position, but instead longs to seek out "the ultimate battle". He sees himself as the arch-rival of Viewtiful Joe, and always appears with the intent to defeat him. Alastor gave Joe the title "Viewtiful", after seeing him in battle. He is voiced by Mikey Kelley in the games, and Ross Lawerence in the anime. Appearance In all media he mainly appears in Blade Master form, as a humanoid figure in purple spandex and light body armor. He wears a helmet with a pair of purple ibex horns, and has wings and a pointed tail. In Viewtiful Joe and Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble he also appears in an un-Henshined Stylish form, where he has pointed ears and spiked black hair, and wears a black suit with a white stole embroidered with winged skulls. He is transformed by the Black Film into a more bestial demon form called Underworld Emperor Alastor in Viewtiful Joe 2, even saying the line that was read by Dante in''Devil May Cry'', "I am Alastor, the weak shall pierce their hearts and swear eternal loyalty to me!" when he first encountered the Alastor sword. Background Involvement Alastor is a member of Jadow, the organization which all bosses in the game are part of, but doesn't care about their ideals. He merely wants the ultimate battle. He faces Joe twice, first disguised as him as the the fourth level boss ("Another Joe", an imposter Joe), and again as himself at the end of the next level. He comments that Joe's attacks are "viewtiful" which inspires Joe to call himself Viewtiful Joe. Alastor returns in Viewtiful Joe 2 , after dispatching the Tyrannosaurus rex samurai Big Lee (who claims he isn't the other T-rex, Big John) so that he can fight Joe instead. Unlike the other bosses in'' VJ2'', Alastor is not part of Gedow. After a quick defeat, Alastor is transformed into Underworld Emperor Alastor due to the power of the Black Film. In this form, his voice is much deeper and he shares several physical traits with Dante's Alastor Devil Trigger. Alastor repeats the sword's lines from the original Devil May Cry ''and transforms into an Alastor sword. After unsuccessfully trying to impale Joe the same way he did Dante, Alastor does battle with Joe and Silvia, but is once again defeated. In the third game, ''Double Trouble, Alastor appears once more to challenge Joe and even uses a mecha similar to Joe's Six Majin called Rex Majin. In the end, Alastor is defeated but takes a blow from Queen Heinderella to allow Joe to escape. As he disappears, Alastor says that Joe can only allow himself to be defeated by him. As in VJ2, Alastor is not affiliated with the main villains, Madow. In the series, there seems to be a running gag where Alastor "dies" honorably, only to reappear and lament about his lack of screen time (in VJ, he does this to the players directly; in VJ2, he instead falls out of the movie screen and talks to Joe's father, Jet Black). Devil May Cry Alastor is the manifested spirit that animated the Alastor sword in the first Devil May Cry game. Many of his moves are taken from the game, and the sword and lightning he uses look very similar. When Dante fights Alastor in the PS2 version of Viewtiful Joe, Alastor accuses Dante of treating him badly and forgetting about him. Dante responds by saying Alastor "really knows how to hold a grudge." Strategy Alastor possesses a number of crafty attacks. You'll have to be very agile to avoid his use of lightning and sword barrages. As with most bosses, your best offense is the slow, zoomed-in punch technique. Whenever you're near him, activate slow and zoom and hold down the punch button to inflict significant damage to Alastor. As the battle opens, be ready to dodge his first attack by using slow. There's lava on the level so you must be careful not to take a hot dip. However, Alastor occasionally stands at the end just next to the lava. Punch him into the lava and he'll reappear at the small pool of water just nearby (opposite the lava). He'll stay in there for several seconds to cool down. Jump into the pool quickly, activate slow and zoom, and start punching. Likewise, if you should fall into the lava get into the pool or just use mach speed to cool the flames. One of Alastor's attacks is calling lightning from hovering pillars around the room. You can avoid the lightning by keeping away from the pillars. But since you might be trapped into a corner with no chance of avoiding damage, it's better to either leap onto the pillar and above the lightning or punch and kick the pillar itself, which stops the attack. When you're on the pillar, make an attempt to hit Alastor. Jump, activate slow and zoom, and start punching if you're able to reach Alastor. He'll plummet to the ground and be vulnerable for more attacks. Whenever Alastor shouts "Round Trip" he's going to start throwing swords. These can be avoided using slow for auto-dodging or they can also be punched back at Alastor for some damage. When Alastor says "Air Raid," he shoots lightning at your feet. Perform a jump move right when he says it to avoid the lightning strike (and if you can reach him, jump and hit him to stop the barrage). Finally, Alastor features a lightning ground attack much like Captain Blue. Just steer clear of the lightning; once it dissipates, move in for the attack. Quotes Alastor's personality greatly changes between the games and anime *"Why...you...you're pretty strong...and that move...the one you did back there...VIEWTIFUL" Alastor's famous line that gave Joe his name *"That was a beautiful series of moves, not so much that I enjoyed the view" The anime equivalent of the above line *"Viewtiful Joe... how fitting..." *"For many years we have fought against Captain Blue for control of the world of Movieland. However, it has recently been brought to our attention that this world may, in fact, be fictional. If celluloid should become obsolete, we too will be destined to lie forever on the cutting room floor of history. In order to counter this threat, we have made a bold plan to break through the silver screen and take over the world beyond Hollywood...The key to our success lies in the D.N.A. of the creator, as long as we have that D.N.A. in our possession, we'll be able to come and go at will in the world of humans, which is why we need the girl." Alaster explaining Jadow's evil plot *"I'm afraid I can't help you there...Your girlfriend is the key to the Jadow's Master plan...She's being held in a secret location. If you want to find her, I suggest you put some of those considerable skills of yours to use and start looking...But watch out, Movieland can be a world of illusions" The anime equivalent of the above line *Is this it? Am I done for? You're kidding, right? Oh, come on! Nooo! Come on! Help a brother out huh!" *"Ah, its my friendly neighborhood arch-rival, but you're a little late! The ritual has begun!" (Talking to Joe) * "The name's Alastor! Nice punch back there, by the way." (Talking to Joe) *"I am Alastor. The weak shall give their heart and swear their eternal loyalty to me." Gallery VJ2Alastor.png|Alastor in the games. ViewtifulJoeAlastor.png|Alastor in the anime AlastorStylish.png|Stylish Alastor ALASTERposter.png Trivia *The lightning used for Alastor's attacks is the same as that in Devil May Cry. *Alastor's Ultra Violet Kick is a shout out to Nelo Angelo's leitmotif, "Ultra Violet". *The poster for the Alastor chapter is a parody of the Devil May Cry cover with Alastor in place of Dante. *In episode 15 of the anime, Alastor wears a purple suit that mirrors Legendary Dark Knight Dante's outfit. This outfit is also available in Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble. *Alastor is a playable character in Viewtiful Joe and Red Hot Rumble. When playing as Alastor, the player must "Devil Trigger" to transform into henshin form. In his story, where he replaces Joe, he must rescue Goldie (the twin sister of Joe's girlfriend, Silvia). In gameplay, he shouts "Air Hike!" while double jumping. *Dialogue with Dante in the PS2 version implies that Alastor is the spirit in the sword, and further dialogue in Red Hot Rumble clarifies this as true. Alastor bears a grudge against Dante for forcefully throwing him into a Marionette without apologizing and for not taking him to "Somewhere Island". *In Red Hot Rumble, he has a form called 'Stylish Alastor '''which has two costumes with white hair and one wears red and the other wears blue. *In ''Okami, another game directed by Kamiya, a fireworks expert calls one of his masterpieces "The Midnight Thunderboy", which is Alastor's nickname and the title of the chapter in which you face him. *Aside from his playable appearance in Viewtiful Joe, it is never stated whether or not Alastor has a V-Watch of some sort. It is heavily hinted, due to his costume having similarities to Joe's, and as well during the ending to Red Hot Rumble, when all of the superheores shout out "Henshin-A-Go-Go, baby", Alastor joins in. *In his Underworld Emperor form, Alastor says "I am Alastor. The weak shall give their heart and swear their eternal loyalty to me." which is what Alastor said in the first DMC. He then transforms into an Alastor sword and attempts to impale Joe the same way he did Dante. Unlike Dante, Joe manages to dodge by using his VFX powers. *Alastor was mentioned in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. Morrigan Aensland's win quote against Viewtiful Joe has her saying: "I had such high hopes for you. Especially after Alastor's words of praise." See also *Another Joe *Dante *Jadow External links * Blade Master Alastor at Devil May Cry Wiki Category:Jadow Category:Playable characters Category:Featured Article